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Column: Three years after being shot at school, this teen has made our survival her fight

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Column: Three years after being shot at school, this teen has made our survival her fight

Earlier than she was shot within the abdomen at Saugus Excessive College, Mia Tretta volunteered at a Los Angeles meals financial institution yearly round Thanksgiving.

On Nov. 14, 2019, within the minutes earlier than a bullet from a ghost gun hit her, Mia was on the telephone along with her mother, Tiffany Shepis-Tretta. They had been attempting to determine a day Mia might skip faculty to pack packing containers of meals with out lacking a take a look at. She was strolling into class after being dropped off by her grandmother on the Santa Clarita campus.

So carefree, Tiffany thinks now, remembering her daughter as a freshman. So onerous to suppose how small the issues had been.

Seconds after Mia hung up, a fellow scholar pulled a .45 caliber semiautomatic — produced from a package offered by a still-operating web enterprise in Chula Vista — and fired into the quad.

He killed two college students, together with Mia’s greatest buddy Dominic Blackwell, and wounded three earlier than taking his personal life. Damage and dazed, Mia ran right into a classroom.

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College students stroll to a reunification space after a gunman opened fireplace at Saugus Excessive in November 2019.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Instances)

Most of us barely keep in mind the Saugus Excessive capturing, headline information when it occurred three years in the past. And why would we? There have been many extra faculty shootings since, and lots of of acts of gun violence in California and throughout the nation this 12 months alone. The Gun Violence Archive places the quantity at greater than 600 to this point in 2022 — together with 21 lifeless in Uvalde, Texas, and 10 gunned down in a grocery retailer in Buffalo, N.Y.

Colorado Springs, Colo., was the brand new headline, 5 lifeless Saturday night time in an LGBTQ membership. Then Tuesday night time introduced one other horror. Seven folks lifeless in a Virginia Walmart, together with the gunman, who used his last shot on himself.

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Are you able to even title any of the others? Do you keep in mind in April when a gunman wounded 10 in a New York subway automotive? Or Could when an indignant man killed one and wounded 4 on the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods?

Or June in Oklahoma when yet one more armed man killed 5 at a medical heart and left extra with “non-life threatening accidents,” which is absolutely only a chilly and careless approach of claiming welcome to a lifetime of trauma, each for the victims and those that love them.

“You’ll be able to’t wait to care till it occurs to you,” Mia advised me Tuesday. And if telling her story, driving that time dwelling, will get the eye of only one particular person, it’s well worth the salt-in-the-wound ache of digging up the main points, she mentioned.

“On the fee that gun violence is occurring now, everybody goes to know any person, all people goes to have gun violence contact them,” she mentioned. “The entire world is hurting. All of those shootings occurring over and again and again is tough for me. However its additionally so extremely onerous for our complete nation.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom during a news conference at Santa Monica College on July 22, 2022.

Gov. Gavin Newsom wipes a tear after considering of his personal daughter when gun violence survivor Mia Tretta, left, advised her story beforehe signed Senate Invoice 1327, gun laws modeled after Texas’ abortion ban, into regulation at Santa Monica School on July 22. Tretta was wounded and her greatest buddy was killed within the 2019 capturing at Saugus Excessive College.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Instances)

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She’s a senior now, nonetheless at Saugus Excessive, however spends a lot of her time as a gun-sense advocate with organizations together with College students Demand Motion. These previous few weeks, with the shootings in Colorado and Virginia, the strain of a vacation meant to underscore gratefulness and the three-year anniversary of the Saugus capturing, have been onerous — for Mia’s complete household.

“At the start within the grand scheme of something like this, we’re fortunate as a result of she’s right here. She’s with us,” Tiffany mentioned. “These are the issues you concentrate on when the vacations come. I take into consideration [Dominic’s] household.”

Mia worries folks don’t even keep in mind him — the 14-year-old child with curly hair who “wasn’t afraid of something,” Tiffany mentioned. He and Mia had an 8-minute lengthy secret handshake they’d do each time they met, Mia mentioned.

A man wears a shirt emblazoned with the name of a boy killed in the Saugus High shooting.

Folks collect at Central Park in Santa Clarita to recollect these killed and wounded within the Saugus Excessive College capturing.

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Instances)

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He wore a SpongeBob T-shirt virtually on daily basis. The primary time he met Tiffany in a division retailer, he “shook my hand very firmly and mentioned, ‘I simply need you to know I’m Mia’s boyfriend,’ then ran off laughing,” Tiffany mentioned.

Mia liked him and he’s gone, killed as they walked collectively, simply one other day till it wasn’t.

However as a lot as we mourn the lifeless, the dwelling matter too. Gun violence is a horrible, tragic second for many who die. It’s a lifetime of ache for many who stay.

Tiffany remembers the morning Mia was shot, probably not being concerned at the same time as she heard one thing was occurring at the highschool. She determined to drive over and test. On the way in which, she acquired a textual content from a quantity she didn’t acknowledge.

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“Hello mother, I don’t know should you’ve heard, however there was a capturing. Inform Max to chew together with his mouth closed,” it learn. Max is Mia’s little brother, in first grade when the capturing occurred and an open-mouth eater on the dinner desk, a lot to his massive sister’s dismay.

Tiffany realized one thing was improper and known as the quantity. A lot of what occurred is a blur, however she remembers asking the one who answered if every part was OK, and being advised Mia had been shot. “Do you need to discuss to her?” they requested.

Gun control activist Mia Tretta.

Gun management activist Mia Tretta.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Instances)

Mia sounded “as regular as may be,” Tiffany mentioned. “Thank God for shock and adrenaline. I really feel like, had she sounded in ache, I might have crumbled.”

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By some means Tiffany known as her husband, Sean, and so they arrived on the faculty at virtually the identical time, with Mia being wheeled out on a gurney. There was a helicopter journey to the trauma heart, and although the bullet missed a significant artery by millimeters, “we knew fairly shortly that she was going to be OK,” she mentioned.

“However when you must inform a baby that their greatest buddy was killed, you immediately see the innocence drain from them,” she mentioned.

Mia nonetheless has bodily issues from being shot — she’ll have one other process in coming months. However the emotional restoration is tougher.

“For a very long time, I used to be very, very numb,” Mia mentioned. “Trauma is a curler coaster. It doesn’t finish and it’s not static.”

Tiffany felt the shock too and nonetheless does.

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“You attempt to stay slightly bit tougher, you attempt to love extra, you attempt to not maintain grudges on belongings you would have prior to now,” she mentioned. “As dad and mom you bought to maintain going. You bought to choose up and maintain it collectively. You’ll crumble in the future when they’re married and have their very own youngsters. It’s robust.”

A family gathers at a memorial outside Saugus High School in 2019.

A household gathers at a memorial to Gracie Anne Muehlberger and Dominic Blackwell exterior Saugus Excessive College in 2019.

(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Instances)

One of many hardest components is how political shootings have turn into. In case your baby is in a automotive accident, Tiffany factors out, the one response is sympathy and kindness.

“You say my baby was shot at a faculty capturing, all people has an opinion on that,” Tiffany mentioned. “It’s the one factor that’s polarized, and it’s actually unfair. You’re speaking about youngsters’ lives and children’ security.”

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Mia has a service canine now, a golden retriever named Randy, who goes to high school along with her and may wake her up from nightmares. She has PTSD. Popping balloons startle her, and Max is aware of higher than to run up and scare her, as he appreciated to do earlier than the capturing.

However Mia additionally found one thing about her ache.

“I noticed actually early on that I had the identical consolation sitting in mattress crying as I did going out and attempting to alter one thing,” she mentioned.

Mia travels the nation talking on gun rights. Not way back, she was at the White House for an occasion with President Biden. And he or she voted for the primary time a couple of weeks in the past — all candidates she trusts to share her values. Just lately, after the varsity capturing in Uvalde, she held a walkout at Saugus Excessive. Within the conservative enclave of Santa Clarita, it wasn’t properly acquired.

“Folks had been holding up Trump flags and throwing issues at us,” she mentioned. “It’s a whitewashing, sort of attempting to fake this didn’t occur in ‘Awesometown,’” as one native neighborhood dubbed itself.

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It’s Mia’s perseverance that offers me hope.

I’m pretty sure the so-called adults aren’t fixing America’s gun drawback anytime quickly. Even in California, with a few of the strictest gun legal guidelines within the nation, we’re confronted with the stone wall of those that genuinely consider they may sometime want their weapons to overthrow our authorities, and any try and curb gun rights dangers that mangled notion of patriotism.

However the youngsters have an opportunity.

“Era Z goes to eliminate them,” Tiffany mentioned, talking of the politicians who consider their self-serving worship of the 2nd Modification is extra necessary than our kids.

“I see it not simply with my daughter,” she mentioned. “I see it when she goes and meets with different teams of younger [activists]. They notice the numerous drawback we’ve got with weapons on this county. I’ve loads of hope for them, and it’s unlucky that we’ve needed to burn all of it down for them to construct it again up.”

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Mia doesn’t need her complete life to be about weapons. She’s 18 years previous and making use of to varsity. She goals of Stanford, and so they’d be fortunate to have her. And he or she and her mother are again to volunteering at Thanksgiving, this 12 months making meals for these dwelling in motels.

However Mia is on this struggle to win it, identical to so lots of her friends who “take no s—,” as Tiffany places it.

“These are change makers,” Mia says of different younger survivors she’s met.

“They’re combating for the very same factor,” she mentioned, regardless of in the event that they deal with local weather change, reproductive rights or any of the opposite issues that appear so insurmountable and contentions — to “be secure and be completely happy and be liked and never be scared.”

“It’s not an excessive amount of to ask,” she mentioned.

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No, Mia, it’s not. I want we might win this struggle for you, go away you with a greater world. Or at the very least one the place massacres don’t come and go from our consciousness like thieves, stealing a little bit of our means to really feel every time.

However I’m grateful you’re not ready for us to catch up. And I’m grateful that for all you’ve misplaced, you haven’t given up on us.

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Video: Biden Says Trump Is Responsible for ‘Nightmare’ State Abortion Laws

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Video: Biden Says Trump Is Responsible for ‘Nightmare’ State Abortion Laws

new video loaded: Biden Says Trump Is Responsible for ‘Nightmare’ State Abortion Laws

transcript

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Biden Says Trump Is Responsible for ‘Nightmare’ State Abortion Laws

President Biden tied a six-week abortion ban that will soon take place in Florida to former President Donald J. Trump and Republican efforts to ban abortion nationwide.

Let’s be real clear. There’s one person responsible for this nightmare. And he’s acknowledged and he brags about it: Donald Trump. [crowd boos] Now he’s worried the voters will hold him accountable for saying he’s responsible for getting Roe v. Wade overturned. Donald Trump is worried voters are going to hold him accountable for the cruelty and chaos he created. Folks, the bad news for Trump is we are going to hold him accountable. Don’t think he’s making a deal right now with MAGA extremists to ban nationwide abortion in every single state, because he’s making it. In fact, the MAGA majority in the House of Representatives has introduced three separate bans to ban choice nationwide. It’ll be all of us who restore those rights for women in America. [crowd cheers] And when you do that, we’ll teach Donald Trump and extreme MAGA Republicans a valuable lesson. Don’t mess with the women of America.

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Columbia University protests: Rep. Elise Stefanik calls on Biden admin to deport terrorist supporters on visas

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Columbia University protests: Rep. Elise Stefanik calls on Biden admin to deport terrorist supporters on visas

House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., sent a scathing letter to top Biden officials about the ongoing anti-Israel protests at Columbia University, demanding federal intervention to protect Jewish students.

In a letter dated Tuesday, Stefanik wrote to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Attorney General Merrick Garland. The New York congresswoman did not mince words when describing the disarray caused by the anti-Israel protests at the New York City Ivy League institution, threatening Jewish students and faculty.

Classes at Columbia will be entirely virtual for the rest of the semester due to the protesters “taking over” the campus. New York City Mayor Eric Adams blamed “outside agitators” for fanning the flames during a press conference on Tuesday.

Stefanik called attention to the antisemitic sentiment among protesters in her letter.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS: 5 DRAMATIC MOMENTS FROM A WEEK OF CHAOS

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House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., sent a scathing letter to top Biden officials about the recent anti-Israel protests at Columbia University. (Getty Images)

“Over the past few days, anarchy has engulfed the campus of Columbia University and created an environment that is unsafe for Jewish students and faculty,’ she wrote. “You have the ability and authority to put a stop to this and take concrete steps to hold accountable those responsible.”

The House Republican went on to describe the protesters as an “unsanctioned mob of students and agitators permitted to continue to target Jewish students,” and cited antisemitic incidents that have occurred as a result of their activity.

“Consequences are needed for those who are calling for terrorism and violent attacks,” she wrote. Stefanik cited the Immigration and Nationality Act, which states that anyone who endorses terrorism can become ineligible for American residency, and noted that protesters are “brazenly endorsing Hamas and other terrorist organizations.”

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT ORDERS VIRTUAL CLASSES AS ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS TAKE OVER: ‘WE NEED A RESET’

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Stefanik speaks with House GOP leaders

House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., speaks during a news conference as Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., left, and Rep. Marc Molinaro, R-N.Y., look on. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“By allowing this support for terror to continue, this wicked ideology is able to spread,” Stefanik argued. “I demand that you enforce existing law to revoke the visas and deport students here on visas who are suspended for their antisemitic actions.” 

The Republican also called for the Department of Education to hold Columbia accountable by revoking any federal funding that the Ivy League school receives.

“It is past time for the Department of Education to publish the findings of [President’s Biden’s Title VI] investigation and hold the university accountable,” she wrote. “Furthermore, the Department must take action to revoke any federal funding flowing to Columbia and similar institutions so taxpayers are not funding the ongoing discrimination.”

Anti-Israel agitators construct an encampment on Columbia University’s campus

Anti-Israel agitators construct an encampment on Columbia University’s campus in New York City Monday.   (Peter Gerber)

Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Secretary Mayorkas and Attorney General Garland for comment.

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Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.

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How an expensive bet by Emily's List in an Orange County congressional race went awry

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How an expensive bet by Emily's List in an Orange County congressional race went awry

For Emily’s List, the Democratic political group that has helped elect hundreds of women who support abortion rights, backing Joanna Weiss just made sense.

Weiss, a first-time candidate for Congress in a competitive Orange County district, had founded a Democratic advocacy group and was proving to be a formidable fundraiser.

But the sheer amount of money that Emily’s List spent in support of Weiss raised eyebrows. During a single week in the congressional primary, the group’s independent expenditure arm spent more than $813,000 on television and online ads for Weiss. She is the only candidate that the super PAC has backed this year.

Weiss finished third in the 47th District primary, behind Democratic state Sen. Dave Min and Republican Scott Baugh. The losing bet by Emily’s List in Orange County left Democrats scratching their heads.

“I had just assumed that they were smarter with their donor dollars,” said Mari Fujii, the first vice chair of membership for the Democrats of Greater Irvine.

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The group’s super PAC, called Women Vote, typically saves the bulk of its war chest for the November ballot. But the group has also frequently waded into early primary races, often in districts without an incumbent candidate.

When a record number of American women ran for office in 2018, Women Vote backed candidates in a dozen House primaries, including two in Southern California. Women Vote also spent in several House primaries in 2022, including a border district in Texas where the group tried to oust Rep. Henry Cuellar, the last antiabortion Democrat in the House. Challenger Jessica Cisneros lost by 281 votes.

Emily’s List said its work to support women running for office extends beyond independent expenditures to recruitment, campaign advice and fundraising help, including bundling contributions and introducing candidates to major donors. Spokeswoman Christina Reynolds said the organization does “not comment on strategic decisions about specific races.”

The super PAC reported having $1.5 million on hand at the end of March, raising questions about the group’s ability to influence November races in media markets where an effective outside expenditure campaign can top $1 million.

The 47th District is one of the hottest races in the country, pivotal to both Democrats and Republicans fighting for control of Congress. The coastal district, which runs from Seal Beach to Laguna Beach and inland to Costa Mesa and Irvine, is represented by Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine), who is leaving Congress in January.

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Porter’s decision to give up her House seat and run for the Senate, a bid that fell short in the March 5 primary, kicked off a flurry of campaigns to replace her in Washington.

Before Weiss announced her candidacy, Emily’s List approached her to ask if she was interested in running, said Mike McLaughlin, a senior advisor to the Weiss campaign.

Former Rep. Harley Rouda and Min had both announced they would run, and Emily’s List was “very invested in trying to keep a women in that seat,” McLaughlin said. By then, Weiss had already decided she would run, he said.

Emily’s List did not promise to fund Weiss’ campaign, McLaughlin said. But, he said, the group signaled that it would watch to see if Weiss merited an endorsement, and if she had the kind of fundraising chops needed to win in a battleground House district.

Then the already competitive race took several unexpected turns.

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Rouda suffered a brain injury after a fall and dropped out of the race last April. In May, Min was arrested for driving under the influence in Sacramento and pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor.

In June, Emily’s List endorsed Weiss, saying that her history as “a community organizer, lawyer, and advocate for women is unparalleled.”

By election day, Weiss had raised more than $2 million from individual contributions — more than any other non-incumbent woman running for Congress in the U.S., McLaughlin said. (That figure does not include the $225,000 Weiss loaned her campaign.)

“That is what led Emily’s List to then decide to make an investment,” McLaughlin said. “It was a competitive race, and she was doing her part to build a broad coalition of support.”

The main political committee controlled by Emily’s List has given to dozens of candidates across the country, but in far smaller amounts. Federal law restricts such committees from giving big amounts directly to candidates. Independent expenditure committees — including the Emily’s List super PAC, Women Vote — can receive and spend an unlimited amount, however.

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Women Vote began buying ads for Weiss on Jan. 30, spending more than $827,000 in a week on television ads and mailers, federal records show.

“If you’re going to spend that kind of money, you’d expect to see it spent over a longer amount of time and it would be targeted better,” said Jon Gould, the dean of the School of Social Ecology at UC Irvine. “It had the feel that someone suddenly committed a lot of money at the last minute.”

The board of the Irvine Democrats, which backed Min, took the unusual step of writing to the president of Emily’s List, chiding the group for investing so heavily in Weiss. Their letter spelled out what the group saw as Weiss’ biggest problems, including her lack of experience as a candidate and her decision to send her children to private schools outside the district.

“Backing the flawed campaign of Ms. Weiss will harm the chances of electing a Democratic House majority in 2024,” the group wrote. They suggested that Emily’s List redirect the money to two other races in Orange County with strong Democratic women candidates.

This year is not the first time Min has been at odds with Emily’s List.

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During the bruising 2018 primary for California’s 45th Congressional District, Min ran against Porter in a crowded field to unseat then-Rep. Mimi Walters, a Republican.

After Emily’s List endorsed Porter, the group’s super PAC spent more than $241,000 on ads and mailers to support her.

Min’s campaign then released an ad suggesting Porter, Walters and another candidate were being funded by “special interests.” In a voice-over, a narrator said: “Washington insiders have spent over $100,000 to elect Katie Porter.”

In a terse statement, the then-president of Emily’s List dismissed Min’s ad as “dishonest.”

“In a year where we’re seeing a record number of women step up and run for office, it’s unfortunate that there are those who are trying to diminish our success,” Stephanie Schriock said. She called Min’s comments “disparaging” to more than 5 million supporters of Emily’s List, including many who lived in his district.

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The 47th District wasn’t the only race in California where choices by Emily’s List rankled Democratic leaders. One Democratic consultant, who requested anonymity to speak frankly about an organization that works closely with Democratic campaigns, said the group has made “many weird decisions in California this year.”

State Sen. Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger) told The Times that the group had contacted her about running in the Central Valley’s 22nd Congressional District, hoping oust incumbent GOP Rep. David Valadao of Hanford. But Rudy Salas, a Democrat and a former member of the state Assembly, already had the backing of Washington’s Democratic leadership. Hurtado said she had weekly meetings with Emily’s List until it became clear the organization was not going to support her financially. She finished in a distant fourth place in the primary.

Emily’s List did not endorse a candidate in the 45th Congressional District in inland Orange County, represented by GOP Rep. Michelle Steele. Democrat Kim Nguyen-Penaloza, a Garden Grove councilmember and the daughter of Mexican and Vietnamese immigrants, finished third in the primary, losing by 367 votes to Democrat Derek Tran.

In the 40th Congressional District, an inland suburban district mostly in Orange County, Emily’s List endorsed Allyson Muñiz Damikolas in her bid to unseat GOP Rep. Young Kim. The endorsement helped Damikolas bring in more money, but the group did not spend a significant amount to help her. She finished a distant third behind Kim and Democrat Joe Kerr, a retired firefighter.

The results of both those races, Gould said, suggest that Emily’s List “probably made the right call.”

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